It’s finally February – and that means the return of the Betfred Championship, with the opening round of matches kicking off in Cumbria on Saturday and culminating in the first Monday Night fixture of the season between Keighley Cougars and Featherstone Rovers live on Viaplay – the new name for Premier Sports.
The first fixture of the season is a stand-alone Saturday afternoon clash between ambitious Barrow Raiders and a Toulouse Olympique team packed with Super League experience as they aim to bounce straight back following relegation in 2022.
Barrow are hoping for a bumper crowd as they aim to build on last season’s fourth-placed finish under Coach of the Year Paul Crarey, and the game will also be streamed live on Our League – with an earlybird price of £4.95 available to Our League members until midnight tonight (Friday).
Five games on Sunday include a heavyweight clash between Andrew Henderson’s York Knights and John Kear’s Widnes Vikings at the LNER Community Stadium, while Bradford Bulls are targeting a record crowd for a Championship opener when they host Whitehaven at Odsal.
Then on Monday night, Keighley’s return to the Championship also sees the return of Monday Night Rugby League – now on Viaplay, with Emma Louise Jones and Ross Fiddes again leading a team which includes Henderson, Craig Murdock and the former England half-back Kevin Brown.
Mark Wilson, Leon Pryce and Kyle Amor will also be regular members of the Viaplay team but they are otherwise engaged this weekend – Amor making his competitive debut for Widnes at York, and Pryce linking up with his former St Helens and Great Britain half-back partner Sean Long as Featherstone’s new coaching team at Keighley on Monday night.
Coverage will start at 715pm ahead of the 745pm kick-off, and fans can tune in on the Viaplay streaming platform or Amazon Prime and on TV through Viaplay Sports 1 (Sky channel 412, Virgin TV channel 551) – watch at https://viaplay.com/gb-en/ from just £11.99 per month.
And all Viaplay’s Betfred Championship and Challenge Cup matches will again be broadcast in Australia on Fox League in 2023 – adding to the global profile of the competitions.
Viaplay have announced their first 12 televised fixtures for 2023, with each of the Championship’s 14 clubs guaranteed to be shown at least once.
The cameras will be at York on Monday week for the visit of Bradford Bulls, with February’s coverage completed by another meeting of two promotion hopefuls as Widnes Vikings host Halifax Panthers.
Viaplay’s 2023 coverage will also include the Betfred Championship Summer Bash in May, and fixtures from the Sixth Round and Quarter Finals of the Betfred Challenge Cup.
Betfred Championship opening round
Saturday February 4 – Barrow Raiders v Toulouse Olympique (live on Our League, 3pm)
Sunday February 5 (all matches 3pm) – Bradford Bulls v Whitehaven, Halifax Panthers v Sheffield Eagles, London Broncos v Batley Bulldogs, Swinton Lions v Newcastle Thunder, York Knights v Widnes Vikings
Monday February 6 – Keighley Cougars v Featherstone Rovers (live on Viaplay Sports 1, 745pm)
